Methodi of preparing padded inner



Sept. 12, 1939. c. w. AVERY METHOD OF PREPARING PADDED INNER TRIM PANELS Filed Jan, 17, 1936 W m V Q E MN e 3 III 1 RN kw wm TH E M \Q E O .11. @EE W T Ill KN N\ INVENTOR Clareuae l1. flyer y. BY I I 5 %T ORNEY Patented Sept. 12, 1939 'ATENT Fee METHOD OF PREPARING PADDED- INNER TRIM PMJIELS Clarence W. Avery, Detroit, Mich, assignor to The Murray Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application January 17, 1936, Serial No. 59,592

Claims. (01. 154-2) The present invention relates to a method of continuously preparing, treating, and assembling padded, fabric covered inner-trim panels, such as are commonly used for providing an interior 5 finish on enclosed vehicle bodies.

A general object of the present invention is to provide a method in which cardboard or other suitable relatively stiff backing sheets are covered with a substantially uniform layer of non-wovenfibrous padding material and are subsequently stamped to form and thereafter the padded surface of the backing sheets is covered with a suitable layer of woven fabric finish trim material stretched over the padded surface of the backing sheets and adhesively secured to the reverse side thereof.

An important feature of the present invention consists in the method which involves adhesively applying a padding layer to a backing sheet and placing two of such padded backing sheets with their padded surfaces face to face during the time the backing sheets are blanked out to the desired outer configuration for a trim-panel. Inasmuch as the interior surfaces of automobile bodies utilizing trim-panels of this general type are in the vast majority of instances substantially symmetrical, it will be appreciated that in a blanking operation both left and right hand padded panels may be blanked out in a single operation.

A further particularly important feature of the method disclosed in the present application resides in the fact that by placing the padded backing sheets face to face at the time the blanking operation takes place, the fibrous padding material on the surface of the backing sheets is accurately held in position during the blanking operation and consequently is accurately, neatly, and uniformly trimmed from the marginal edges 40 of the backing sheets, thus insuring a uniform finish to the panels when they are covered with fabric material.

Still further, the present invention contemplates the provision of a method in which a 45 substantially continuous web of padding material is deposited upon a conveyor and automatically separated into sections substantially the size of the backing sheets which it is designed to cover.

Many other and further important objects and advantages of the present invention will become clearly apparent from the following specification, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a more or less diagrammatic plan view of the apparatus and arrangement of machinery found particularly satisfactory for practicing the novel method disclosed in this application.

Fig, 2 is a more or less diagrammatic view in side elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

With more particular reference to the drawing, the specific embodiment of the invention illustrated therein includes a Garnett machine, generally designed as 10, which serves to tear up and distribute at random, loose, non-woven fibrous material, such for example as jute fibers. This Garnett machine discharges a matted layer of jute fibers ii, upon a constantly forwardly moving conveyor belt l2 driven by any suitable mechanism conventional in the art. lmrnediately upon leaving the Garnett machine, this sub stantially continuous web of fibrous material is separated into sections of suitable lengths slightly longer than the backing sheets with which it is to be used, by means of an automatic cut-off mechanism.

Adjacent the forward end of the conveyor belt i2 is mounted a conveyor belt 25 which is driven at slightly greater speed than the conveyor i2. A roller it engages the conveyor it near the forward end thereof and is preferably driven at a constant speed to cooperate with the conveyor belt E2 to feed the matted web of fibrous material forwardly. A roller l 5 is journaled in a pair of pivotly mounted arms it which serve to provide means for moving the roller it into engagement with the conveyor 25. Suitable cam mechanism serves periodically to urge the roller l5 into engagement with the conveyor 25 and, due to the greater speed at which this conveyor is moving, 3

it will be apparent that even a brief engagement of this roller will serve to tear off a section of the matted strip of fibrous material. It will be appreciated that the periodic engagement of the roller it with the conveyor 25 may be so adjusted and timed by any suitable means so that any desired lengths of padding material may be torn off.

It will be apparent that as the conveyor system moves forwardly, relatively isolated matted areas of loose non-woven padding maerial will lie upon the conveyor 25 and that each of these individual areas of matted padding material will be slightly larger in extent than the area of the backing sheets which they are designed to cover.

A suitable supply of substantially rectangular cardboard sheets i8 is maintained adjacent the conveyor system and these sheets are'fed into a booth is where they are automatically sprayed with liquid adhesive with which one side of the sheets are covered. An operator places the individual sheets upon individual areas of padding material traveling along the conveyor system 25. These sheets are placed upon the padding material with the adhesive covered surfaces thereof in contact with the padding material and are fed along the conveyor l2 into a compacting roller 22. This compacting roll 22 may be of any suitable construction, but, as illustrated in the drawing, comprises a roller which serves to compact the loose non-woven padding material and effect a strong adhesive bond of the padding material with the backing sheets, which have been placed upon the areas of padding material, as has been described above.

As the padded backing sheets with the fibrous material firmly, adhesively bonded to one surface thereof leave the compacting roll 22, they are automatically fed forwardly along the conveyor 25 which moves them between a plurality of blanking presses 21, the purpose and function of which will hereinafter become clear.

The blanking presses 21 are of conventional construction and are provided with dies which will form the trim panels to the desired outer configuration and punch the holes therein which are necessary for the various latch and window regulator operating shafts which customarily extend through inner-trim panels of this general type. It has been found that the operation of the Garnett machine Ill, the adhesive covering apparatus I9 and conveyor systems l2 and 25 is sufficiently rapid to supply four blanking presses and for that reason four units have been illustrated in the drawing.

An operator stands by each of the presses 21 and removes the padded backing sheets l8 from the conveyor 25 and places two of these sheets with their padded surfaces face to face in substantially coextensive relation, and inserts the two into the blanking press 21. It will be appreciated that the relatively loose padding material will be firmly engaged by the two backing sheets and held in fixed position during the blanking operation in order that the marginal edges of the panels will be accurately trimmed to the desired configuration and the padding material will be uniformly sheared off around the marginal edges of the trimmed backing sheets.

A pair of conveyors, designated as 30, are preferably mounted parallel to the conveyor 25 and on the outside of the presses 21 a suitable supply of fabric trim covering material is maintained adjacent the ends of these conveyors and it will be noted by reference to Fig. 1 that the fabric covering material has already been cut accurately to the desired shape for the particular panels which are being formed. Operators continually place a suitable supply of these fabric cover sections 34 on the conveyors and receiving operators remove the padded backing sheets from the presses 21 and place them accurately in position with the padded face down upon the fabric trim material sections traveling along the conveyors 30. It will be noted by reference to Fig. 1 that the fabric cover trim for each of the planels is slightly larger in area than the padded backing sheets, leaving a marginal edge completely surrounding the backing sheet which may be turned over and adhesively secured to the rear side of the backing sheet.

These fabric trim sections, with the padded backing sheets thereon, travel in under a housing 35, where the marginal edges of the fabric and marginal edges of the back side of the backing sheet are sprayed with suitable adhesive and from the housing they travel into suitable enclosed drying ovens 36, which will dry the adhesive sufficiently to effect a strong adhesive bond with the backing sheets when the marginal edges of the fabrics are brought into engagement therewith. After leaving the drying oven, the marginal edges of the fabric finish trim material are folded over and the material tensioned to provide a smooth, attractive surface finish by means of machinery such as is disclosed in Patent No. 2,056,45l, assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

The particular arrangement of apparatus shown in the drawing has been found exceptionally satisfactory for practicing the method of the present invention. It will be appreciated that various sizes and shapes of backing sheets and panels may be formed at the same time in accordance with the results desired. The blanks from which the backing sheets are made may be of several sizes depending upon the size of the finished panels which it is desired to produce. Likewise, different sizes and shapes of dies may be used in the various presses and corresponding sections of finish trim may be selected as is desired.

It will be appreciated that the above disclosed method is merely illustrative of the generic inventive concept presented. Many other and further objects and advantages falling within the scope of the subjoined claims will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of preparing padded inner trim panels which includes distributing a layer of non-Woven padding material on a conveyor, separating said padding material into sections and adhesively securing a backing sheet to each of said sections.

2. The method of preparing padded inner trim panels which includes distributing a continuous layer of non-woven padding material on a conveyor, separating said padding material into sections, adhesively securing a backing sheet blank to each of said sections, and compacting said padding material to effect a strong adhesive bond with said backing sheet blank.

3. The method of preparing padded inner trim panels which includes distributing a continuous layer of non-woven fibrous material on a conveyor, separating said padding material into sections, applying an adhesive covered backing sheet blank to each of said sections, compacting said padding material to effect a strong adhesive bond between said padding and said backing sheet blank and stamping said assembly to the desired configuration.

4. The method of preparing padded inner trim panels which comprise generating a substantially continuance web of non-woven fibrous material, separating said web into sections, applying backing sheet blanks to said sections and stamping out said padded backing sheet blanks to the desired configuration.

5. The method of preparing padded inner trim panels which comprises generating a substantially continuous web of non-woven fibrous material, separating said web into sections, adhesively securing a backing sheet blank to each of said sections, and compacting said fibrous material to effect a strong adhesive bond With said backing sheet blank.

CLARENCE W. AVERY. 

